Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

HK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
HK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
HK wrote:


After I left the plug out, I would always clip the plug onto my
boat key ring. I do the same thing with my engine block plugs
when I winterize the engine. I put them in a plastic zip lock
bag, and attach them to the key ring.





Whaddya know, you are a perfect a**hole.

Harry,
Are you going to follow me around and make your childish comments
after each of my posts?



I dunno, you do it all the time. Does it work for you?

The difference is, I just ask you questions, you make yourself look
foolish on your own. I never run around using Asshole, thinking that
is cute.



What is this, your Herring imitation? How's your grandmother?

You bore me.

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

HK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:29:41 -0800, "Calif Bill"

wrote:

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:14:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

"HK" wrote in message
. ..
wrote:
On Nov 30, 6:34 am, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
Don't know about most days, but today there is no doubt just
who's the
dumbest guy in the NG. Yours truly.
Thought I'd move the boat from my covered slip over to the
yacht club
dock this afternoon. About a half hour's run.
En route, I began calculating how long it had been since last
taking
on a load of fuel.
"I'm probably OK," I thought. "But maybe I'll stop off at the
fuel
dock and get 20 gallons or so just for insurance. I'll fuel up
seriously next time I'm outside the locks and can get B20."
Pulled up to the local fuel dock. $3.99 per gallon for diesel.
No big
deal, $80 bucks worth and I'll be certain of having more than
enough
aboard for the upcoming lighted boats parades.
"In fact", I thought, "I'll put it all in the starboard tank.
The trim
is a little heavy to port right now, and that will level
things off
quite nicely."
"Hello, Chuck" says the fuel dock guy.
"Hi, Dave. I'm only going to put 20 gallons or so in the
starboard
tank, just to
make sure I've got enough to do the Special People's Cruise
and the
parade."
"No problem."
I uncrew the deck plate and begin filling the tank. At about
14 or 15
gallons, I'm hearing fuel in the vent line. "Impossible! I
need a lot
more fuel than that, I've got to be down at least 100 gallons
in this
150-gallon tank what the heck?"
Oh.......*That's* the heck!
In the gathering late afternoon darkness, I had unscrewed the
deck cap
for the holding tank pump out.......immediately next to the
fuel tank
filler. I had just topped off my holding tank with diesel.
Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.
"Don't feel too badly," said Dave. "The Argosy (huge commercial
charter boat) did exactly the same thing here not long ago.
But of
course they took on well oer 100 gallons before they realized
what
they had done."
"What did they do about it?" I asked.
"We hooked up my oil change pump and sucked it out. Only
problem is, I
need a new hose for my oil change pump so I don't dare try to
evacuate
your holding tank. I know I'd have diesel leaking into the
water for
sure. Frankly, I don't know what we can do for you tonight, I'm
getting ready to close and go home."
They say Providence looks after kids and idiots, and just then
this
idiot got a break.
Putt, putt, putting along the canal was one of the local
"Sani-system"
boats.
A unique group of businessmen make a living by running small
boats
with pumps and several hundred gallon holding tanks into our
local
marinas where they pump out the holding tanks for liveaboards. It
normally costs about $25 to have a holding tank pumped. Dave
waved the
guy over to the fuel dock.
"Maybe you can help us out," said Dave. "Chuck here has just
pumped
about 15 gallons of diesel into his holding tank."
"No way," was the first response. "I can't put diesel into my
sewage
tank, I wouldn't be able to discharge it."
"I have a plan," said Dave. I'll truck one of my waste oil
recycling
barrels out here to the dock, you disconnect your hose from
your sewer
tank and pump into the barrel. We'll flush the hose with a few
gallons
of soapy water, and put that into the barrel as well, and then
rinse
it all out with some lake water- also into the barrel."
"Well, OK" said the sani-system guy.
We pumped the holding tank into the recycle barrel. (The tank
itself
was pretty empty before I added the diesel). Then we dumped
some TSP
cleaner and water into the tank and sucked that into the
barrel as
well. Finally, we
flushed the hose with lake water, and the ridiculous screw up was
corrected.
And so the dumbest guy in the NG, and certainly the dumbest guy
actually out on a boat in Seattle (there wasn't much traffic)
this
afternoon was rescued from his own stupidity by a couple of
guys who
didn't really *have* to do anything. I paid the pump out guy
for his
time and trouble, but the Dave didn't charge me anything for
the extra
trouble, or for staying past closing time to get me squared
away. I am
on the hook for $2 per gallon to recyle the contaminated
diesel when
the guy comes around to pick it up, but I'll be glad to get
off so
cheaply.
"Good thing that wasn't gasoline," we all agreed.
"And good thing it wasn't your water tank," commented Dave. "This
happens more often than you'd think, and a lot of times people
put
fuel into their potable water tanks. About the only real cure
for that
is to replace the tank, and maybe some of the lines if any of
the fuel
gets pumped through. You're getting off for under a hundred
bucks all
said, all done, while a water tank replacement could cost
$1000 or
more."
So round up the doo-wop group; "dum, dum, dum dum, dum de de de
diddly, dum dum doo wah....." :-)
Chuck, I am sure you are the only one stupid enough to do such
a thing,
but I have seen fuel and fresh water caps, that had different
spacing on
the holes in the top, so you needed to use different "keys" to
open
them. Your problem was a minor one, can you imagine if someone
pumped
diesel into your fresh water system.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Chuck doesn't have this problem I hope, but I did leave my transom
plug out once. So I got it on plane and pulled the plug and
sucked the
boat dry, put back the plug, and just went fishin'.

I've done that, but on a boat with a deck, so I had to head to
shore real
fast to screw the plug in from the outside of the transom.

I've also pumped a few gallons of gasoline into the rod holder,
thinking
it was the fuel fill. Fortunately, the last time I did that was in
Florida, many years ago.
There are only 2 types of boaters. Those who have forgotten the
plug, and
those who lie about forgetting the plug.

You forgot at least one other type:

Those whose boats don't have a plug.

\
They most likely owned a boat with a plug at one time.

I have owned boats with a plug, but I honestly never had a problem
remembering
to install it when needed. So I guess that makes a 4th group!





After I left the plug out, I would always clip the plug onto my boat
key ring. I do the same thing with my engine block plugs when I
winterize the engine. I put them in a plastic zip lock bag, and
attach them to the key ring.





Whaddya know, you are a perfect a**hole.

Drinking tonight, Krause, or are you just being yourself?

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

HK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
HK wrote:


After I left the plug out, I would always clip the plug onto my boat
key ring. I do the same thing with my engine block plugs when I
winterize the engine. I put them in a plastic zip lock bag, and
attach them to the key ring.





Whaddya know, you are a perfect a**hole.

Harry,
Are you going to follow me around and make your childish comments
after each of my posts?



I dunno, you do it all the time. Does it work for you?

You are an adult, right?

This is insane...

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:47:13 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould
wrote:

I'm thinking of painting the fuel fill plate green, to match the
diesel hose.

If you go to your neighborhood UPS store they can make up engraved
plastic, color coded plates for you. For another $5 you can buy a
Dymo label making tool with a variety of colored tapes which will
stick to the bronze deck plates. We've adopted both on our GB49 and
they've held up well for over 2 years. I'd like to report that we
were prescient enough to anticipate the problem in advance of making
the labels but that is unfortunately not the case.

I've now taken it one step further and made up color coded ID plates
for the fuel tank valve manifold.

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:01:21 -0800, "William Andersen"
wrote:

I've read of others making
the same mistakes and could never understand why they aren't clearly
identified in the first place.

Because no one thinks it can happen to them until it does.

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:25:23 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:

After spending the money for the inspections, the new owner chose to ignore
the recommendations.. He had a friend or some totally unqualified person do
a couple of things I am told, but decided to postpone any other work until
he arrived at his southern destination.

I found out yesterday that the boat caught on fire somewhere in the Delaware
River.

Eisboch



I bet he won't make that mistake again. ;)

He'll be lucky if he ever gets insurance again. Those guys have a
long memory and share "information".

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:14:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

There are only 2 types of boaters. Those who have forgotten the plug, and
those who lie about forgetting the plug.

I did that once with the Ranger.

I launched the boat, pulled the trailer up and parked it and as I was
walking back to the ramp, some woman was screaming. They had come in
to recover, beached next to the Ranger and the 900 GPM bilge pump was
merrily shooting water out right into this woman's lap. :)

Whoops...

900 gallons per minute?

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Nov 30, 11:13�am, "Delburt D" wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message

...



wrote in message
...

Chuck doesn't have this problem I hope, but I did leave my transom
plug out once. So I got it on plane and pulled the plug and sucked the
boat dry, put back the plug, and just went fishin'.

Second time I put the Yukon in the water, I forgot the plug. � �The boat
was still on the trailer when I noticed it.
Didn't have to worry about $%$# plugs with the sailboat.

I've Got a good one for you guys. �The first time we put our 17' electric in
the water she was very ass heavy. �The water came up over 3" past the boot
top. �She looked like she was doing 50 sitting at the dock. �So we
redistributed the battery weight and took her back to the river. �As my
partner backed the boat into the water I noticed that she was sitting even
lower in the transom than the first time we launched.

Any body want to guess what the problem was? �It was not the drain plug as
it is forward under the front cockpit floorboard.

We forgot to remove the rear stabilizer strap on the trailer. �The boat was
actually floating the trailer!!! �We pulled her out and removed the strap
amid much laughter around the boat ramp. �This was a very nice late summer
Saturday with lots of people around.

Do I get into the club?

Tom

Do you know a blonde with a Bayliner? :-)

That's the usual culprit in these "forgot to unhook it from the
trailer" scenarios- interesting to hear of one that absolutely
happened.

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:47:13 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould
wrote:

On Nov 29, 9:52?pm, "William Andersen" wrote:
So, why aren't the deck plates identified?
I've read about these mistakes before and never understood why things aren't
clearly labeled, especially when having enough money to own a boat doesn't
mean you have any technical aptitude or interest.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message

...



Don't know about most days, but today there is no doubt just who's the
dumbest guy in the NG. ?Yours truly.

Thought I'd move the boat from my covered slip over to the yacht club
dock this afternoon. About a half hour's run.

En route, I began calculating how long it had been since last taking
on a load of fuel.

"I'm probably OK," I thought. "But maybe I'll stop off at the fuel
dock and get 20 gallons or so just for insurance. I'll fuel up
seriously next time I'm outside the locks and can get B20."

Pulled up to the local fuel dock. $3.99 per gallon for diesel. No big
deal, $80 bucks worth and I'll be certain of having more than enough
aboard for the upcoming lighted boats parades.

"In fact", I thought, "I'll put it all in the starboard tank. The trim
is a little heavy to port right now, and that will level things off
quite nicely."

"Hello, Chuck" says the fuel dock guy.

"Hi, Dave. I'm only going to put 20 gallons or so in the starboard
tank, just to
make sure I've got enough to do the Special People's Cruise and the
parade."

"No problem."

I uncrew the deck plate and begin filling the tank. At about 14 or 15
gallons, I'm hearing fuel in the vent line. "Impossible! I need a lot
more fuel than that, I've got to be down at least 100 gallons in this
150-gallon tank what the heck?"

Oh.......*That's* the heck!

In the gathering late afternoon darkness, I had unscrewed the deck cap
for the holding tank pump out.......immediately next to the fuel tank
filler. I had just topped off my holding tank with diesel.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

"Don't feel too badly," said Dave. "The Argosy (huge commercial
charter boat) did exactly the same thing here not long ago. But of
course they took on well oer 100 gallons before they realized what
they had done."

"What did they do about it?" I asked.

"We hooked up my oil change pump and sucked it out. Only problem is, I
need a new hose for my oil change pump so I don't dare try to evacuate
your holding tank. I know I'd have diesel leaking into the water for
sure. Frankly, I don't know what we can do for you tonight, I'm
getting ready to close and go home."

They say Providence looks after kids and idiots, and just then this
idiot got a break.

Putt, putt, putting along the canal was one of the local "Sani-system"
boats.
A unique group of businessmen make a living by running small boats
with pumps and several hundred gallon holding tanks into our local
marinas where they pump out the holding tanks for liveaboards. It
normally costs about $25 to have a holding tank pumped. Dave waved the
guy over to the fuel dock.

"Maybe you can help us out," said Dave. "Chuck here has just pumped
about 15 gallons of diesel into his holding tank."

"No way," was the first response. "I can't put diesel into my sewage
tank, I wouldn't be able to discharge it."

"I have a plan," said Dave. I'll truck one of my waste oil recycling
barrels out here to the dock, you disconnect your hose from your sewer
tank and pump into the barrel. We'll flush the hose with a few gallons
of soapy water, and put that into the barrel as well, and then rinse
it all out with some lake water- also into the barrel."

"Well, OK" said the sani-system guy.

We pumped the holding tank into the recycle barrel. (The tank itself
was pretty empty before I added the diesel). Then we dumped some TSP
cleaner and water into the tank and sucked that into the barrel as
well. Finally, we
flushed the hose with lake water, and the ridiculous screw up was
corrected.

And so the dumbest guy in the NG, and certainly the dumbest guy
actually out on a boat in Seattle (there wasn't much traffic) this
afternoon was rescued from his own stupidity by a couple of guys who
didn't really *have* to do anything. I paid the pump out guy for his
time and trouble, but the Dave didn't charge me anything for the extra
trouble, or for staying past closing time to get me squared away. I am
on the hook for $2 per gallon to recyle the contaminated diesel when
the guy comes around to pick it up, but I'll be glad to get off so
cheaply.

"Good thing that wasn't gasoline," we all agreed.

"And good thing it wasn't your water tank," commented Dave. "This
happens more often than you'd think, and a lot of times people put
fuel into their potable water tanks. About the only real cure for that
is to replace the tank, and maybe some of the lines if any of the fuel
gets pumped through. You're getting off for under a hundred bucks all
said, all done, while a water tank replacement could cost $1000 or
more."

So round up the doo-wop group; "dum, dum, dum dum, dum de de de
diddly, dum dum doo wah....." ? :-)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Both bronze plates are the same size and are unlabeled. The word
"Diesel" is cast into the collar around the fuel fill, while the
collar around the pump out cap is plain. It was hard to tell them
apart in the dark, but there was no excuse for the mistake after
owning the boat for as many years as I have. It was simply a
mistake,,,,,,,,,and anybody can make one.

I'm thinking of painting the fuel fill plate green, to match the
diesel hose.

Colors don't show well at night. It would seem like they could make a
special 'key' for fuel fills only. On my boat the key is special, but I've
nothing else into which I could put a hose.

I can honestly say that I've never accidentally done *anything* wrong with
diesel fuel on a boat. Of course, using gas helps prevent diesel mistakes.

--
John H

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Dec 1, 12:41Â*pm, Chuck Gould wrote:
On Nov 30, 11:13�am, "Delburt D" wrote:





"Don White" wrote in message

.. .

wrote in message
....

Chuck doesn't have this problem I hope, but I did leave my transom
plug out once. So I got it on plane and pulled the plug and sucked the
boat dry, put back the plug, and just went fishin'.

Second time I put the Yukon in the water, I forgot the plug. � �The boat
was still on the trailer when I noticed it.
Didn't have to worry about $%$# plugs with the sailboat.

I've Got a good one for you guys. �The first time we put our 17' electric in
the water she was very ass heavy. �The water came up over 3" past the boot
top. �She looked like she was doing 50 sitting at the dock. �So we
redistributed the battery weight and took her back to the river. �As my
partner backed the boat into the water I noticed that she was sitting even
lower in the transom than the first time we launched.

Any body want to guess what the problem was? �It was not the drain plug as
it is forward under the front cockpit floorboard.

We forgot to remove the rear stabilizer strap on the trailer. �The boat was
actually floating the trailer!!! �We pulled her out and removed the strap
amid much laughter around the boat ramp. �This was a very nice late summer
Saturday with lots of people around.

Do I get into the club?

Tom

Do you know a blonde with a Bayliner? Â*:-)

That's the usual culprit in these "forgot to unhook it from the
trailer" scenarios- interesting to hear of one that absolutely
happened.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

After seeing what goes is filmed on the tv show "Americas most set up
(funniest) videos" I trust there might have been a little planning
here too...;)

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:38:10 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:09:23 -0600, lid wrote:

On Thu, 29 Nov 07, "William Andersen" wrote:
So, why aren't the deck plates identified?
I've read about these mistakes before and never understood why things aren't
clearly labeled

Do you read the on/0ff label on a light switch every time you
constatly use it? Labels are fine for people who've never used the
"whatever" device before. But after the first use, it takes something
else to get your attention.

You've hit on the problem, which is the way the human mind works.
Outside of standardized hose/receptacle fittings, the only way to
prevent this kind of thing from happening is about five guys with
checklists doing the job - and even then they might screw up.
Distractions - maybe only the guy on the fuel dock yakking at you -
can flip your mind to the wrong action.
I once pumped about 1000 gallons of heavy navy fuel oil into Naples
harbor, and to this day don't fully understand how it happened, except
I was distracted by other responsibilities I do know how it could
have been prevented, but it's too late now.
Strictly followed procedures are important, but most people don't
establish them for something as simple as gassing up.

--Vic

Fixing those problems before the fact is called 'Human Factors
Engineering'. I took a course in it at USC, and found it very interesting.
The examples of poor HFE were often hilarious.
--
John H

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

gmta


On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:34:17 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:

Chuck Gould wrote:
Don't know about most days, but today there is no doubt just who's the
dumbest guy in the NG. Yours truly.

Thought I'd move the boat from my covered slip over to the yacht club
dock this afternoon. About a half hour's run.

En route, I began calculating how long it had been since last taking
on a load of fuel.

"I'm probably OK," I thought. "But maybe I'll stop off at the fuel
dock and get 20 gallons or so just for insurance. I'll fuel up
seriously next time I'm outside the locks and can get B20."

Pulled up to the local fuel dock. $3.99 per gallon for diesel. No big
deal, $80 bucks worth and I'll be certain of having more than enough
aboard for the upcoming lighted boats parades.

"In fact", I thought, "I'll put it all in the starboard tank. The trim
is a little heavy to port right now, and that will level things off
quite nicely."

"Hello, Chuck" says the fuel dock guy.

"Hi, Dave. I'm only going to put 20 gallons or so in the starboard
tank, just to
make sure I've got enough to do the Special People's Cruise and the
parade."

"No problem."

I uncrew the deck plate and begin filling the tank. At about 14 or 15
gallons, I'm hearing fuel in the vent line. "Impossible! I need a lot
more fuel than that, I've got to be down at least 100 gallons in this
150-gallon tank what the heck?"

Oh.......*That's* the heck!

In the gathering late afternoon darkness, I had unscrewed the deck cap
for the holding tank pump out.......immediately next to the fuel tank
filler. I had just topped off my holding tank with diesel.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

"Don't feel too badly," said Dave. "The Argosy (huge commercial
charter boat) did exactly the same thing here not long ago. But of
course they took on well oer 100 gallons before they realized what
they had done."

"What did they do about it?" I asked.

"We hooked up my oil change pump and sucked it out. Only problem is, I
need a new hose for my oil change pump so I don't dare try to evacuate
your holding tank. I know I'd have diesel leaking into the water for
sure. Frankly, I don't know what we can do for you tonight, I'm
getting ready to close and go home."

They say Providence looks after kids and idiots, and just then this
idiot got a break.

Putt, putt, putting along the canal was one of the local "Sani-system"
boats.
A unique group of businessmen make a living by running small boats
with pumps and several hundred gallon holding tanks into our local
marinas where they pump out the holding tanks for liveaboards. It
normally costs about $25 to have a holding tank pumped. Dave waved the
guy over to the fuel dock.

"Maybe you can help us out," said Dave. "Chuck here has just pumped
about 15 gallons of diesel into his holding tank."

"No way," was the first response. "I can't put diesel into my sewage
tank, I wouldn't be able to discharge it."

"I have a plan," said Dave. I'll truck one of my waste oil recycling
barrels out here to the dock, you disconnect your hose from your sewer
tank and pump into the barrel. We'll flush the hose with a few gallons
of soapy water, and put that into the barrel as well, and then rinse
it all out with some lake water- also into the barrel."

"Well, OK" said the sani-system guy.

We pumped the holding tank into the recycle barrel. (The tank itself
was pretty empty before I added the diesel). Then we dumped some TSP
cleaner and water into the tank and sucked that into the barrel as
well. Finally, we
flushed the hose with lake water, and the ridiculous screw up was
corrected.

And so the dumbest guy in the NG, and certainly the dumbest guy
actually out on a boat in Seattle (there wasn't much traffic) this
afternoon was rescued from his own stupidity by a couple of guys who
didn't really *have* to do anything. I paid the pump out guy for his
time and trouble, but the Dave didn't charge me anything for the extra
trouble, or for staying past closing time to get me squared away. I am
on the hook for $2 per gallon to recyle the contaminated diesel when
the guy comes around to pick it up, but I'll be glad to get off so
cheaply.

"Good thing that wasn't gasoline," we all agreed.

"And good thing it wasn't your water tank," commented Dave. "This
happens more often than you'd think, and a lot of times people put
fuel into their potable water tanks. About the only real cure for that
is to replace the tank, and maybe some of the lines if any of the fuel
gets pumped through. You're getting off for under a hundred bucks all
said, all done, while a water tank replacement could cost $1000 or
more."

So round up the doo-wop group; "dum, dum, dum dum, dum de de de
diddly, dum dum doo wah....." :-)






Chuck, I am sure you are the only one stupid enough to do such a thing,
but I have seen fuel and fresh water caps, that had different spacing on
the holes in the top, so you needed to use different "keys" to open
them. Your problem was a minor one, can you imagine if someone pumped
diesel into your fresh water system.

--
John H

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:28:17 -0500, HK wrote:

Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:29:41 -0800, "Calif Bill"

wrote:

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:14:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

"HK" wrote in message
. ..
wrote:
On Nov 30, 6:34 am, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
Don't know about most days, but today there is no doubt just
who's the
dumbest guy in the NG. Yours truly.
Thought I'd move the boat from my covered slip over to the
yacht club
dock this afternoon. About a half hour's run.
En route, I began calculating how long it had been since last
taking
on a load of fuel.
"I'm probably OK," I thought. "But maybe I'll stop off at the fuel
dock and get 20 gallons or so just for insurance. I'll fuel up
seriously next time I'm outside the locks and can get B20."
Pulled up to the local fuel dock. $3.99 per gallon for diesel.
No big
deal, $80 bucks worth and I'll be certain of having more than
enough
aboard for the upcoming lighted boats parades.
"In fact", I thought, "I'll put it all in the starboard tank.
The trim
is a little heavy to port right now, and that will level things
off
quite nicely."
"Hello, Chuck" says the fuel dock guy.
"Hi, Dave. I'm only going to put 20 gallons or so in the starboard
tank, just to
make sure I've got enough to do the Special People's Cruise and
the
parade."
"No problem."
I uncrew the deck plate and begin filling the tank. At about 14
or 15
gallons, I'm hearing fuel in the vent line. "Impossible! I need
a lot
more fuel than that, I've got to be down at least 100 gallons
in this
150-gallon tank what the heck?"
Oh.......*That's* the heck!
In the gathering late afternoon darkness, I had unscrewed the
deck cap
for the holding tank pump out.......immediately next to the
fuel tank
filler. I had just topped off my holding tank with diesel.
Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.
"Don't feel too badly," said Dave. "The Argosy (huge commercial
charter boat) did exactly the same thing here not long ago. But of
course they took on well oer 100 gallons before they realized what
they had done."
"What did they do about it?" I asked.
"We hooked up my oil change pump and sucked it out. Only
problem is, I
need a new hose for my oil change pump so I don't dare try to
evacuate
your holding tank. I know I'd have diesel leaking into the
water for
sure. Frankly, I don't know what we can do for you tonight, I'm
getting ready to close and go home."
They say Providence looks after kids and idiots, and just then
this
idiot got a break.
Putt, putt, putting along the canal was one of the local
"Sani-system"
boats.
A unique group of businessmen make a living by running small boats
with pumps and several hundred gallon holding tanks into our local
marinas where they pump out the holding tanks for liveaboards. It
normally costs about $25 to have a holding tank pumped. Dave
waved the
guy over to the fuel dock.
"Maybe you can help us out," said Dave. "Chuck here has just
pumped
about 15 gallons of diesel into his holding tank."
"No way," was the first response. "I can't put diesel into my
sewage
tank, I wouldn't be able to discharge it."
"I have a plan," said Dave. I'll truck one of my waste oil
recycling
barrels out here to the dock, you disconnect your hose from
your sewer
tank and pump into the barrel. We'll flush the hose with a few
gallons
of soapy water, and put that into the barrel as well, and then
rinse
it all out with some lake water- also into the barrel."
"Well, OK" said the sani-system guy.
We pumped the holding tank into the recycle barrel. (The tank
itself
was pretty empty before I added the diesel). Then we dumped
some TSP
cleaner and water into the tank and sucked that into the barrel as
well. Finally, we
flushed the hose with lake water, and the ridiculous screw up was
corrected.
And so the dumbest guy in the NG, and certainly the dumbest guy
actually out on a boat in Seattle (there wasn't much traffic) this
afternoon was rescued from his own stupidity by a couple of
guys who
didn't really *have* to do anything. I paid the pump out guy
for his
time and trouble, but the Dave didn't charge me anything for
the extra
trouble, or for staying past closing time to get me squared
away. I am
on the hook for $2 per gallon to recyle the contaminated diesel
when
the guy comes around to pick it up, but I'll be glad to get off so
cheaply.
"Good thing that wasn't gasoline," we all agreed.
"And good thing it wasn't your water tank," commented Dave. "This
happens more often than you'd think, and a lot of times people put
fuel into their potable water tanks. About the only real cure
for that
is to replace the tank, and maybe some of the lines if any of
the fuel
gets pumped through. You're getting off for under a hundred
bucks all
said, all done, while a water tank replacement could cost $1000 or
more."
So round up the doo-wop group; "dum, dum, dum dum, dum de de de
diddly, dum dum doo wah....." :-)
Chuck, I am sure you are the only one stupid enough to do such a
thing,
but I have seen fuel and fresh water caps, that had different
spacing on
the holes in the top, so you needed to use different "keys" to open
them. Your problem was a minor one, can you imagine if someone
pumped
diesel into your fresh water system.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Chuck doesn't have this problem I hope, but I did leave my transom
plug out once. So I got it on plane and pulled the plug and
sucked the
boat dry, put back the plug, and just went fishin'.

I've done that, but on a boat with a deck, so I had to head to
shore real
fast to screw the plug in from the outside of the transom.

I've also pumped a few gallons of gasoline into the rod holder,
thinking
it was the fuel fill. Fortunately, the last time I did that was in
Florida, many years ago.
There are only 2 types of boaters. Those who have forgotten the
plug, and
those who lie about forgetting the plug.

You forgot at least one other type:

Those whose boats don't have a plug.

\
They most likely owned a boat with a plug at one time.

I have owned boats with a plug, but I honestly never had a problem
remembering
to install it when needed. So I guess that makes a 4th group!





After I left the plug out, I would always clip the plug onto my boat key
ring. I do the same thing with my engine block plugs when I winterize
the engine. I put them in a plastic zip lock bag, and attach them to
the key ring.





Whaddya know, you are a perfect a**hole.

Harry, was that even remotely called for?
--
John H

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:23:40 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:14:51 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

There are only 2 types of boaters. Those who have forgotten the plug, and
those who lie about forgetting the plug.

I did that once with the Ranger.

I launched the boat, pulled the trailer up and parked it and as I was
walking back to the ramp, some woman was screaming. They had come in
to recover, beached next to the Ranger and the 900 GPM bilge pump was
merrily shooting water out right into this woman's lap. :)

Whoops...

900 gallons per minute?


http://tinyurl.com/yrvbey

He forgot to tell you what kind of boat the ranger is.
--
John H

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:23:53 -0500, John H.
wrote:



Fixing those problems before the fact is called 'Human Factors
Engineering'. I took a course in it at USC, and found it very interesting.
The examples of poor HFE were often hilarious.

Sounds like an interesting course. I think magicians and scam artists
take that course too.
I used to go the racetrack and I had a strict limit on how much I
would let myself lose. Just that kept me from getting scammed a
couple times, because every time I took an action I would look in my
wallet to remind myself if I could afford a beer.
Walked away from the ticket window once, counted the money in my
wallet to see if it was time for a beer. and I *knew* I was short ten
bucks. I never saw it happen, just knew it did. All I knew was that
the guy was friendlier than most, and engaged me in a bit of
conversation and I was ten bucks short.
I was lucky to find the same ticket window, because I already almost
forgot what the guy looked like, and there was a lot of traffic at the
windows. I picked what looked like the right one, got in line and
when it was my turn told the guy, "Hey, you shorted me ten bucks."
He innocently says, "Whaddaya talkin' about?"
I says, "You got me talking about the daily double, and shorted me ten
bucks."
He said, "Hey, you walked away."
I said, sort of like Arnie, "Yeah, and now I'm back."
He slipped ten across the counter.
Another time at the rush getting into the track I give the admissions
guy in the booth a 10 for the 2 buck grandstand admission, then he
simultaneously releases the turnstyle lock and slides my change to me.
I pick it up, my hip is hitting the turnstyle bar, and I look at the
money. It's 3 crumpled singles, 5 bucks short. But he saw me looking
at my change instead of stuffing it my pocket or wallet and already
has the five sliding across the counter. I never missed a step, but
it was like slow motion in my mind and I saw exactly how they work it.
I call it "The Hesitation." Be careful when a cashier talks to you
while giving you change.
The question is, how many times did I miss it before I caught on?
We all get scammed, and don't even know it happened.
Good sound fueling and wallet procedures are a vital need.

--Vic

Dumbest Guy in the NG.......
 

Chuck Gould wrote:

I had just topped off my holding tank with diesel.

Wife calls me one day in a panic from a local gas station,
car won't start after she filled up. Told her to call
roadside service and I'd be there in 20 to wait with her.

After we hangup, a nice gentleman pulls in the stall next
to her. He proceeds to fill up his pickup and chats with
her while doing so. After he's done, he realizes as he's
putting up the nozzle that he should have been using the
pretty green one in his truck... just filled up the diesel
with gasoline.

I get there, towtruck takes her to the dealership to get a
new battery, all under warranty. That guy.. he had a worse
day than us.


sam